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Original poster

Do you live in the town/city you were raised in?

159 replies

Kualma · 10/09/2022 16:22

If not, how far away do you live from it?

Me personally, couldn’t wait to leave! I grew up in North Worcestershire and left as soon as I went to university. Never came back except for a few months while I looked for a job after graduating.

OP posts:
CormoranStrike · 11/09/2022 00:50

No, but only around 20 miles away.

Teenprobs · 11/09/2022 01:00

Yep, never moved more than a mile from my childhood home. (However I've never bought)

CupboardDoor43 · 11/09/2022 01:14

Yes, grew up in a small countryside village with a small town 7 miles away. Moved away for uni and ended up staying in that city for 15 years. 3 years ago I moved back to the tiny village and brought DH and kids with me. We had began to hate the city and the part we lived in had a lot of crime, which we were also victims of. We couldn't afford to live in the nice bit of the city. So we moved to this village where my parents live and also my sibling lives with his family too. The year before we had moved back we had been visiting my family and went out for an evening walk. We were amazed at all the stars and that we could see the Milky way because of there being so little light pollution. DH said 'we should love here' and I jumped at the chance to move back.

moneybeingwasted · 11/09/2022 01:15

I have lived all over the world and eventually moved back to a town very close to my birth town . My children are all spreading their wings but have all said they want to return when they have their own children.
The schools are excellent and it is a safe place for teenagers.

CupboardDoor43 · 11/09/2022 01:15

*live not love, haha

alanabennett · 11/09/2022 01:25

No, couldn't wait to leave. Small, depressed northern town. After university I moved to London for work then made an even further move, to the US. I occasionally hanker to live in the UK again, but not my hometown. A couple of my school friends live about a 5 minute drive from the houses they were raised in (in my home town) and I've never really understood it.

shiningcuckoo · 11/09/2022 01:26

No. I grew up in a big northern city. Went to Uni in another big northern city and never back. I live almost 12000 miles away now and have done for 20 years. I miss my roots as I get older.

MooseBeTimeForSnow · 11/09/2022 04:54

No. Now 3,873 miles away in Canada.

marblemad · 11/09/2022 05:19

Yes, now. I grew up here, moved away for University and work, 3 different cities and now I am back in my home city. I am working in a graduate role and studying my computer science masters whilst doing a few smaller certificates with work, once I have 2 years in this role under my belt and the masters I will look to apply elsewhere (preferably florida as I want to work on digital theme park projects).

Volterra · 11/09/2022 05:22

I moved away for 20 plus years and had been at university before that but moved to a town a month ago about 20 miles away from where I grew up which is where my Mum lived at one point. We’ve been trying to come back for about 3 years and I’m gutted we didn’t manage it before my Dad died unexpectedly earlier this year.

Really like being back and have a real sense of being home . My youngest is off to university soon and we have seen more of our eldest who is already away in the last month than we would the entire year at previous house as have a station nearby and she likes it here and isn’t like a caged tiger after a day or two as she was in previous house as she found the area really boring and she couldn’t wait to leave home.

MiauzenKatzenjammer · 11/09/2022 05:46

I'm an Essex girl who couldn't wait to get away.

OrangePumpkinLobelia · 11/09/2022 06:37

SianNotAMan · 11/09/2022 00:36

Are you neither from or in the UK then? I think (but may well be wrong) that there’s no land that distance from here.

Show quote history

Hmmm. I have now just used two additional sites and one is saying 18142 and the other is saying 17984. The latter is apparently as the crow flies. No idea what the others are using. I am using my nearest largest city as a base as live in a village.

Anyway- it is Very Far Away. Too far for regular grandparental child minding anyway.

autumnboys · 11/09/2022 06:40

I live in the city I was born in, which is about a 15 minute drive from the town I grew up in. I have spent about 10 years living elsewhere, in Wales, which was about a five hour drive and then London which is about an hour & a half.

Ragwort · 11/09/2022 07:28

No ... moved away for Uni & first job then when married (coincidentally) lived about five miles away ... during which time my DPs and siblings had all moved away themselves. Then lived other side of the country for ten years ... and then relocated to a totally different part of the country Grin ..
family all scattered although my elderly DM did move to live ten miles away from me. And I would fully expect that my adult DS does not end up living near me ... in fact I would like to move again to a totally new area when I retire.

A580Hojas · 11/09/2022 07:42

No. I live about 70 miles away from the city I grew up in.

ElevenOG · 11/09/2022 11:20

Moved 107 miles away. You couldn't pay me enough to go back there. Suburban hell.

LBOCS2 · 11/09/2022 11:41

Grew up in an inner London borough. Moved away briefly, now live in an outer London borough. I'm 6.7 miles from my childhood home but it's quite different.

Ihaveoflate · 21/12/2022 09:05

Not far geographically (about 10 miles) but my family don't live there anymore and I haven't been back since my parents moved about 15 years ago, so it feels like a world away.

lurchermummy · 23/12/2022 11:41

No, moved away after uni and never went back. It's not a desirable place to live now although looking back it was actually nice then.

Frazzled2207 · 23/12/2022 11:44

I live in greater Manchester, 55 miles from where I grew up. However I have ended up here after stints in London and 3 years abroad.

however the older I get I think the more likely it is that I’ll want to return to where I grew up as I get old. It’s rural and just beautiful in a way I totally did not appreciate when older.

Frazzled2207 · 23/12/2022 11:48

Sorry meant to add where I do live there seems to be a very high percentage of people who have never moved far away eg some of kids at school’s parents actually went to the same school! They have the same friends they did growing up. They perhaps went away to uni, but then came back. This feels quite weird to me. But is clearly very common.

I feel a bit “foreign” especially as I don’t speak like any or the locals. Whereas when I lived in London I felt I fitted right in because everyone was from everywhere.

threecupsofteaminimum · 23/12/2022 11:49

Hell no. I was a square peg in a round hole in the area I grew up, even thinking about the place gives me the willies.

Sapphire387 · 23/12/2022 12:10

Yes. London. I don't intend to leave.

Upsidedownagain · 23/12/2022 12:16

No, though my parents moved several times when I was a child and lived for a while in London - I've lived near the area they lived then for many years now. The town where I spent my teens, and where my parents still live, is lovely, but not the kind of place I wanted to be at 18 when I applied to university.

LindaEllen · 23/12/2022 12:24

I was brought up in a lovely village, now live in the town next door because it's so much cheaper. I would love to move back to the village when I have the money to do so (actually would love to have my childhood home back when Mum decides it's time to downsize) but I can't see myself having the money any time soon!

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